A Word From the New Blog Herald Owners

You may be aware that the Blog Herald has recently been sold–and much has been said in the few hours after Matt Craven has made the announcement. Sure enough, the fact that Matt indicated that “the new owners have chosen to remain undisclosed for the time being” has raised a lot of questions.

Well, to clear things up, I would like to introduce the new owners of the Blog Herald–Bloggy Network Ltd., a UK-based company (not to be confused with Bloggy Network, LLC). Today, December 5th, 2006, is the day that we legally become owners of BlogHerald.com, and our contract with Problogging Inc. takes effect.

We will be running the Blog Herald separately from the rest of our network.

We appreciate that, being a very young blog network, we have much to learn, and we understand that running the Blog Herald is by no means a small feat, as many people look up to the Herald as a premier source of news and commentary on the blogging industry. We hope to keep up with the Herald’s tradition of high standards and interactivity, building on the foundations established by Duncan Riley and further refined by Problogging Inc.

What’s in store for the Blog Herald?

We have big dreams and plans for the Blog Herald, which we will be sharing with you in the coming days, weeks and months. Of course, we need your help on this, as we would be going nowhere without the support and feedback from our readers.

In line with this, we have asked the current set of writers to stay with the Herald, to keep with the continuity and high standards of writing. We hope to be able to renew their contracts and bring in more writers this coming January.

Thanks and kudos

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Matt Craven for all his help during our purchase of BlogHerald.com. He has been the consummate professional and gentleman. Matt has generously offered to personally assist while we transfer the site to our servers, and to help manage the site until then. Matt shall likewise stay on board the Blog Herald as a contributor.

Finally, we would also like to thank you, dear readers, for supporting the Herald so far. We hope you bear with us during this transitional period. It might take us a while to learn the ropes, so please feel free to drop us a (life)line at theblogherald [at] gmail.com (temporary, until we transfer the site to our server).

Congrats. I had my suspicions from doing a little digging, but I’m glad Bloggy ID’d themselves and didn’t make myself or someone else do it for you. Your bloggers deserve to know who signs their paychecks. Thanks for being up front.

I’d really love to see how you work that trademark dispute out. Cuz its really confusing considering both Bloggy Networks have blogging news sites.

Mark,
Likewise how can you own a trademark on something when in fact you started something later than someone else with the same name. It would be like me starting a YouTube today and thinking I could get away with it.

Also do you think you should disclose that some of your writer(s) also work for the other Bloggy Network? Do you see a potential conflict of interest on that front. As one of your people also works for BloggingPro, the other blogging news site?

Hmm .. I was never confused between the BloggyNetwork.com and the Bloggy-Network.com before .. Mind you .. when I first realized there were different people, I was going to go out and register Bloggy–Network.com and Bloggy—Network.com .. but decided against it :)

J/k

Good Luck with this venture Abe or Mark or whoever you are (the Bloggy-Network.com group) … I like the current set of blogger/contributors and hope they stick around for a while!

I must say .. given the history of the sites you have scooped recently .. JOAB, Biziki and that gadget blog .. I don’t think I am surprised ..

[…]They are now known to be Bloggy Network, Ltd. (not Bloggy Network, LLC). The new owners are based in the UK and have stated they are going to run the site separately from the rest of their network, which is a smart move in my opinion.[…]

I think there is a dispute here that needs to be resolved. I will be keeping a close eye on this as it may affect the entire blogging and new media industries.

I can see neither Mark, nor the editors are willing to comment on my above comment. Or are consulting their legal team. Either way, its a huge reason IMO why you you’d want to keep your ownership quiet and a touch misleading.

Trademarks are generally based on geography, so one company might have a trademark for the UK or EU, while another might have registered the same term in the USA. Confusing, but entirely possible. A trademark is owned by the first company to apply for it and be successful – it’s as easy as that. Appeal procedures do exist but applications should really have been opposed in the first place. Good luck to both!

I wish I knew all the legalities behind naming of sites etc. especially as it pertains to different companies. I would image starting a business with the same name as a big name U.S. company somewhere they aren’t yet set up would be against copyright and trademarks but I wonder how?

To the owners of this Network. I personally Thank you for making this business possible. You give opportunities to lots of people who seeks wellness in life. You make the dreams of other people come true.

To the writers also, I congratulate you for your continous contributions.

I am in communication with Jacob and believe that the best way to sort it out is privately. But this is certainly not the reason why we did not disclose our identity prior to yesterday. That was a legal decision- waiting for the contract to come into effect. I’m sorry if that upset some people, esp. the current writers- it was playing it perhaps too safe. You can blame me 100%. But it was only some 24 hours from Matt’s announcement on Dec. 4th. I also feel that it is important that BH remains an independent site. That is why I brought in Abe, who isn’t affiliated with the bloggy-network and will only be working here at BH and given a free rein. And that is why I also feel that I should take a back seat and not be involved in BH day-to-day, unless I absolutely have to. Abe is able to make all management decisions, just as Matt has done in the past. And re: your two points, David, re: trademarks, it’s not as simple as “who was first”, although common sense might suggest that. I can send you some legal links if you’re interested. And re: bloggers needing to be “exclusive” to one network- that’s a good point and maybe one I should consider. I guess if the blogger has integrity, it’s no problem. Do you ask your bloggers to be “exclusive”?

I have 2nd thoughts on this BN ltd. Is it a Filipino owned Company based in the UK? As everyone knows,you can be incorporated in major countries nowadays say Nevada, Delaware,HK,Singapore or UK Virtually online and use a a $2 -$5 Dollars direct inward dialing (DID) VOIP virtual number/per month with unlimited incoming calls included in thae city where you are virtually incorporated and receive unlimited incoming calls that is forwarded to anywhere in the world you have your Voip Ipphone or Adapter.So Mark Saunders? if you can be more open Please tell us your office in the UK and I will ask my Brother who is a Lawyer in the UK to visit your office location and know more about your business as you have not activated the about us in you official website which is a bit fishy and raise a lot of questions.You have many sites and all complete but the about us is under construction!!!

Mike- I agree, it’s confusing. I wish it hadn’t happened like this and it was an innocent development, i.e: I was developing a series of “bloggy” sites prior to anyone having a network called “Bloggy”. I tried to buy bloggy.com, for instance, from Barry. So call me an ignorant fool, but this was not a malicious act. Jacob seems happier with the status quo than me, where he can publically bash us and take the moral high ground, despite me offering to a) sell him my domain or b) me to buy his. You know what they say..”never complain, never explain..”. In conclusion, one way or another, I will take action on this- either to enforce the trademark, or to bow out and lose- & fight for another day. One thing I have decided to do is to form a separate company for BH, so that it is legally, as well as nominally, independent from these problems.

Trackbacks

[…] The Blog Herald’s new owners have been announced as a network called the Bloggy Network Ltd – not to be confused with the previously established Bloggy Network LLC. I’ve been aware of the BN LLC for a year or so now but the BN Ltd only came on my radar a little while ago and caused me some confusion as to whether they were the same thing. Why anyone would choose a name already established is just strange. The comments of the announcement post show others feel similarly. If you enjoyed this post Subscribe to the Free ProBlogger Newsletter […]

[…] Blog Herald’s new owner December 5th, 2006 by Kamrul Just few hours after Matt Craven declared “Blog Herald” has been sold to undisclosed buyer, the new buyer revealed their identity. The new owner of “Blog Herald” is none other then UK based blog network “Bloggy Network Ltd.“. On be half of Bloggy Network Ltd. Abe Olandres, wrote a wonderful welcoming thoughts, which cleared up lot of rumors flying around the blogosphere. Congratulation to Bloggy Network Ltd. to be the proud owner of Blog Herald. […]

[…] In fact, I only found out, through the comments section of that “announcement post”, that (one) of the owners is a guy named Mark — I didn’t have a last name until I started asking a few questions, and it turns out his name is Mark Saunders (I think). […]

[…] Big thing the past few days: the Blog Herald acquisition. Abe gives his insights on his blog. And here’s my introduction. Hey, if it’s a blog that’s just been sold for presyong bahay (that means its price could probably buy a house here in Manila—at least that’s how rumors peg it. Hey don’t ask me!), who wouldn’t get excited? […]

[…] The relentless Filipino takeover of the blogosphere continues. Last month, Abe Olandres and J. Angelo Racoma took over The Blog Herald while Kevin Codamon took over PC Gamers. This week, Jayvee Fernandez took over b5media’s technology channel. Yesterday, Kevin took over That Damn PC. […]

[…] * A note on Bloggy Network. Some of you might recall that the transfer of the Blog Herald’s ownership last December caused some confusion, particularly with the name Bloggy Network. Harsh words were exchanged–but not necessarily from the owners of either party, I must say. Well, you may notice from our Disclosures page that the network formerly known as Bloggy Network Ltd. is now Splashpress Media (and has been that way for quite some time now). We are pleased to say that we’re in good terms with Bloggy Network LLC. […]

[…] Blog Herald Updates Feb 1 at 5:31 am by J. Angelo Racoma – Over at the Bloggy Network blog, Jacob Gower posts that the folks over at the Bloggy Network have “no ill feelings” about the confusion a while back over the new Blog Herald ownership. During the recent acquisition of Blog Herald, there was a bit of confusion over the new owners. The company that bought Blog Herald was ‘Bloggy-Network’, not to be confused with our very own BloggyNetwork.com. […]

[…] To those who are not aware, the Blog Herald has had quite some experience with being bashed left and right, mostly by entities related to the previous ownership (see comment threads here and here). Well, that’s life, I guess and people are entitled to their opinions. But then again sometimes it feels like the Herald has this big red bullseye painted over it saying “bash me,” or something to that effect. […]

[…] As of today I no longer write for The Blog Herald. You can read about it in my Leaving The Blog Herald for new adventures post, which was put online after talking to the new owners. Incidentally, they’ve revealed themselves. […]